Bampton Shows the Way

Bampton
1941
Sound
6m

Patriotic tale of a Devon village winning the war with carrot Christmas cake and granny's favourite recipe.

Hearty enthusiasm is the dish of the day in this patriotic tale of a Devon village leading the way in the government's Dig for Victory campaign by organising a Food Education Week. Part record of a real event, part dramatised propaganda, the film features staff and children at the local school in Bampton, who deliver their scripted lines with a touching blend of naturalism and embarrassment.

The village of Bampton, Devon, shows how to organize a Food Education Week.

Dig for Victory

Keeping the nation fed and healthy was the greatest priority of the Home Front. Women replaced absent farm workers, while ordinary Britons were exhorted to 'grow their own'.

'Dig for Victory' was perhaps the most successful official campaign of the Home Front. Britons in their millions picked up their trowels, and acre after acre of parkland, waste ground - even back gardens - was repurposed as makeshift vegetable plots. Just as the factories were constantly increasing their productivity, great efforts were made to increase agricultural yields, while the 'land girls' of the Women's Land Army enthusiastically took the place of farmworkers fighting overseas.